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Book__^A4.. 




ACCESSION NUMBER 



GIVEN BY 



DUPLICA] t 
ULS.it A"."'" 



AN ADDRESS 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



SAMUEL T. GLOVER, 



BY 



Hon. James l. Blair, 

OF THE ST. LOUIS BAR. 

DELIVERED BY REQUEST BEFORE THE KANSAS CITY BAR ASSOCIATION 
AT ITS MONTHLY MEETING, MARCH 6, 1897. 



"Printed by ike ^Association. 
1807. 



F4U 



It* UCrtAhut 

NOV 9 1907 



JAMES L. BLAIR. 

T the last monthly meeting of our Jackson County Bar Association, we 
enjoyed a delightful address from a distinguished member of the bar 
of our sister city of St. Louis, the Hon. James L. Blair. Mr. Blair is in the 
prime of early manhood and in the fulness of his professional powers. He 
has been practicing in St. Louis for a number of years. "The style of his firm 
being Seddon & Blair, and he numbers among his warmest friends many of 
the members of our local bar. His father, the late Francis P. Blair, was 
one of the most distinguished men of the Commonwealth of Missouri at that 
crucial period of our nation's history, which is now happily past. He rep- 
resented this state in the United States Senate, and was candidate for Vice- 
President on the same ticket with Seymour. 

It has been the custom of our Association, pursuant to the resolution in- 
troduced by Mr. Karnes, to devote a portion of our time to perpetuating the 
memory and fame of the intellectual giants in whose footsteps we tread. A 
number of biographical sketches of famous members of the Missouri Bar, now 
deceased, have been read before the Association, and they have been full of 
interest and profit. 

Mr. Blair's address was upon the Life and Character of the late Samuel 
T. Glover. A more brilliant and scholarly address was never listened to by 
our body. It was classic in its finished beauty and enriched and brightened 
throughout by the sunlight of a warm personal friendship. 

After the delivery of the address the Association adopted a rising vote of 
thanks to Mr. Blair, and voted to have one hundred copies of the address 
printed and presented to him. We take pleasure in presenting the address 
herewith in full. 



THE PROFESSIONAL CAREER OF SAMUEL T. GLOVER. 

-BY- 
JAMES L. BLAIR, OF THE ST. LOUIS BAR. 

Delivered before the Association of Kansas City, March 6th, 1897. 

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Bur: 

Members of our profession alone can appreciate the difficulties of the task 
which I have assumed. The professional life of a lawyer, one who sustained 
so great a part at the bar as Mr. Glover, is so complex, his labors so varied 
and embracing such vast fields of efforts, that to set forth within the proper 
limits a true account thereof is beyond the power of man. I can but hope to 
sketch for you the outlines of his career, touching briefly upon the notable 
controversies in which he had part. And I have undertaken this not from 
any conviction of fitness on my own part, but under the impulse of a pro- 
found feeling that it is the duty of our profession to perpetuate the memories 
of those who have by their lives and services illumined the pages of its 
history. 

Mr. Glover was born in the State of Kentucky in the year 1813. After 
three years practice in his native state, he removed to Missouri and was 
admitted to the Palmyra bar in the year 1S37. He practiced in Marion and 
neighboring counties for more than ten years, and then in the year 1849 
removed to the city of St. Louis, where he formed a partnership with the 
late John I. Campbell. Upon that gentleman's removal from the city Mr. 
Glover was associated in the practice with the late John C. Eichardson 
until the year 1857. Shortly after this date he formed a partnership with 
the late John E. Shepley, which continued until the death of Mr. Glover, on 
the 22nd of January, 1884. 

The case of Shaw vs. Burton, (5 Mo., 478) argued at the August Teim, 
1838, of our Supreme Court, marks Mr. Glover's first appearance in that 
forum. The case is unimportant, deciding only a question of pleading, but 
it is fraught with interest as marking the beginning of this great career 
which ended, so far as his personal appearance in that court was concerned, 
with the case of Farrar vs. the City of St. Louis, October Term. 1883, (80 
Mo., 379). Other cases prepared by him appear in subsequent reports, 
but the Farrar case was the last which he personally conducted. 

It is the misfortune of the lawyer that his professional labors, both in 
the preparation and trial of his cases, leave so few tangible evidences of 
their extent. Except where he represents his client in the forum his labors 
are unseen and their results appear only in the finished form of briefs and 
opinions, seen by few and bearing upon their faces no traces of the labor- 
ious preparation they have required. Even in the trial of a cause that 
which appears on the surface, the statement, intenogation of witnesses, the 
argument, afford to none, except those familiar with the exactions of legal 



labor, any conception of the necessary preparation for these risible results. 
Knowing as we do this disproportion between the cause tried and the weeks, 
it may be months, of arduous work required in preparing for it, it is full of 
meaning to us to know that daring his professional career, covering about 
forty- rive years, Mr. Glover appears in the reports as having been in 32 cases 
in the Supreme Court of the United States; .'55 in the St. Louis Court of 
Appeals and 410 in the Supreme Court of Mo. When we consider that a 
lawyer in active practice will try ten cases at nisi prH(8, to every one that 
he argues on appeal, and that he appeared many times in the Federal Courts 
and the higher courts of other States, of which we have no reeoid, these 
figures seem prodigious. The mere reading of the briefs, even if prepared 
by another, so as to qualify himself for a respectable appearance in a court 
of last resort, would occupy a man of ordinary ability a great length of time 
if he appeared in the number of cases mentioned. Familiarity with Mr. 
Glover's habits of work, the intense, ceaseless and arduous labor, the close 
personal attention to every detail which he bestowed upon even case with 
which he had to do, indicates, in the light of these figures, an amount of 
labor which staggers the imagination. 

It is impossible, of course, to state the value involved in this litigation. 
But this much is certain, that though in the beginning of his practice, the 
actual amounts were small, they were the largest of the time; for from the 
day when he came to the bar in St. Louis he had his share of all the large 
litigations of the city, and for the last twenty years of his professional life 
there appears scarcely any case of great magnitude in which he was not 
engaged. 

It is of surpassing interest to read the record of these cases in which he 
appeared in our highest courts. To the close student of his style and his 
method of presentation, it is easy to be seen that he has impressed himself 
upon the court in every instance in which he has appeared before it. It is 
no uncommon thing to see the language of the opinion follow closely upon 
the language of his argument. Nothing can give greater confidence in the 
possibilities of development in our profession, than the careful perusal of 
the history of this man as it is written in these records. With an ease that 
seems incredible, he passes in the short space of one term from a case in- 
volving the most abstruse learning in the law of real property to the most 
delicate and complicated of equity causes, thence to the consideration of in- 
volved commercial controversies, and finally to the discussion of the pro- 
foundest questions of constitutional law. It is, of course, too much to aaj . 
as has been said in the extravagant eulogy of some of our profession, that he 
\\a>ttie ablest in all departments; yet in a practice which covers almost 
half a century and embraces almost every topic of the law. it can be truth- 
fully said that he was superior in all. that he was pre-eminent in most, ami 
that he was unequalled in main : that in those which required the greatest 
qualities of the human mind to discuss he seemed greatest of all. 

It would be impossible for me in the limits prescribed, to allude separ- 
ately to all of the greatest of his legal contests ; but I have selected from 



amongst them a few of the most important, each of which is typical of a 
class, and which taken together illustrate my meaning when I say that his 
versatility was as remarkable as his power of concentration. 

The case of Garvin's Administrator vs. Williams, (44 Mo. 465) was a 
case involving testamentary disposition of property, the issue being the ques- 
tion of undue influence upon the mind of the testator. The doctrine con- 
tended for by Mr. Glover in this case was not new. but it was vigorously 
contested in this State : and to him belongs the credit of establishing it here 
as the fixed rule. The report of that case condenses Mr. Glover"s brief and 
argument into two pages; his original brief covers 96 printed pages; and if 
there is any precedent in the books which has not been embraced by its 
author in this paper, it is unknown to me. The brief is a treatise upon the 
points involved, which for condensed learning, apt citation, cogent reason- 
ing and powerful presentation, has not, in my opinion, been excelled. His 
familiarity with the subject is such that when you arise from a perusal of 
the pages, you can not but feel that its author must have given to the con- 
sideration of that topic years of arduous labor. It is a document which a 
man, who had made a specialty of the subject, might feel well satisfied to 
put forth as a compendium of his work. 

Let us turn now to another famous case, that of Magwire vs. Tyler (25 
Mo., 484 ; 30 Mo., 202; 40 Mo., 406 ; 47 Mo., 115; 1 Black, 195 ; S Wal- 
lace, 650 ; 17 Wallace, 253), a case which engaged the attention of our Su- 
preme Court four separate times, and was three times before the Supreme 
Court of the United States. Nearly all of the eminent counsel at our bar were 
at one time or another in this case; Mr. Glover was always the leading counsel 
for the plaintiff. The case involved a question of title to lands in the city 
of St. Louis, and in its preparation and trial necessitated an acquaintance 
with the most technical principles of real property law and equity practice, 
as well as the involved and baffling history of the French occupation, and 
of the effect upon titles of confirmations by the United States Government. 
Through all this tedious controversy, as has been said by one who was close- 
ly associated with him in it, Mr. Glover was ever ready, ever aggressive, 
thoroughly possessed of the case at every point, and finally carried it to a 
successful termination. As he followed him through the complications of 
this litigation he was constantly impressed by the facility with which the 
vexing technical difficulties besetting the case were dealt with, and particu- 
larly those affecting the conflict between the State and Federal jurisdiction. 
There were other cases Mr. Glover tried relating to land titles which, per- 
haps, iavolved more intricate questions ; but there were none where the con- 
test was sharper, and none where he displayed greater qualities as advocate 
or counsel, than in this celebrated case. 

The case of Farrar against the City of St. Louis (80 Mo. 379), the last 
case in the argument of which Mr. Glover actively participated, was a case 
involving the validity of an ordinance imposing a special tax upon property. 
according to the '"front foct" rule, for the purpose of paving streets of the 
City of St. Louis. I had the honor to be personally associated with Mr. 



Glover through out this case, and thus bad the opportunity of observing his 
habits tit work and the care he bestowed on his eases. His method of dial 
ing with it was typical of his whole professional life. He had been brought 
into the case as leading counsel, and might well have taken the position, 
which indeed he was expected to take, of barrister, having no further con- 
cern than to present the law upon the facts furnished by his juniors. But 
such was not his idea of his duty to his client. He personally examined 
the ordinance, all the proceedings Of the Council leading up to its passage, 
the contract, the charters of the railway companies whose tracks were on the 
street; personally reviewed afl the work of his assistants, examined every 
authority, wrote the greater part of the brief, and at every point and stage 
of the case gave it his coustaut, close attention from beginning to end. The 
work done by his assistants in that case was all done over again by him, and 
would have been done just as thoroughly had they not been in it. His pre- 
sentation of the constitutional questions involved under the charter of the 
City of St. Louis, of the limitations upon the legislative power of taxation, 
his close analysis and criticism of the ordinance involved, and his argument 
on principle and authority, against the so-called "front foot" rule, well 
illustrate the versatile and powerful character of his mind. J shall never 
forget the sustained power with which he met the attack of the able opposing 
counsel, and the force and eloquence of his argument before the Supreme 
Court. While the decision of that Court was against him, the case is not 
only a valuable illustration of his power, but is one of the most notable con- 
tributions to the law on this subject. 

The case of The Wiggins Ferry Company vs. Chicago and Alton E. R. 
Co. ( T.'J Mo., 389), was a ease involving the consideration of a transporta- 
tion contrad andatechnic.il accounting. While the case decides no un- 
common principle of law, it illustrates his labors in a department wholly 
different from any yet noticed. Here he showed conspicuously the habit of 
close, conscientious labor which distinguished him. and which contributed 
so largely to his success. 

The case of Dick vs. The Franklin Fire Insurance Co. (81 Mo., 103), 
involved several questions of insurance law an 1 the equitable doctrine of 
subrogation. From personal association with Mr. Glover in that case I am 

able to say that in these difficult branches of the law he exhibited those same 
great gifts which BO marked him in all others. 

The case of the City of St. Louis vs. St. Louis Cas Light Company (70 
Mo. • >!•). was another celebrated ca.se. chietl\ concerning the law of contract. 
but also embracing the vexed question of ultra virex. The controversy 
involved such great values that, although the principles of law affecting it 
were not out of the ordinary, the contest was most bitter, and again he dis- 
played those qualities which most distinguished him. viz : immense capacity 
for labor, the closest attention to every detail, and the forceful, aggressive 

habit which overbore all opposil ion. 

Turner vs. Baker (8 Mo.^jpp. 583 and 64 Mo. 218, 76 Mo. 343), an eject- 
ment case and Glasgow vs. Lindell (50 Mo., 60, 72 Mo., 1 1 1 ). the school section 



— 6— 

case, illustrates bis familiarity with the law of real property aud the famous 
case of Cutter vs. Waddingham (22 Mo., 206 and 33 Mo., 269). a case in- 
volving the Spanish and Territorial law of succession and the effect of 
the marriage contract under the French law, in which Field, Gamble, Gantt, 
Geyer, Lord and Williams were all engaged, show his thorough mastery of 
these abstruse branches of the law. 

In the Spaunhorst case (Fusz vs. Spaunhorst, 67 Mo., 256) he made a 
masterly and successful argument upon the question of self-enforcement of 
certain provisions of the Constitution of 1S75, and the liability of Bank 
officers in the absence of statutory provisions. In Pomeroy vs., Benton (77 
Mo., 64) the law of partnership is discussed; Liebke vs. Knapp (79 3Io., 22) 
the principle was established that subscriptions to capital stock of a coij or- 
ation (the Eads Bridge at St. Louis) could be paid by publication of 
newspaper articles favoring the enterprise. The case of Chouteau vs. 
Allen (70 Mo., 290) and Kitchen vs. Railway Co. (69 Mo., 224) involving 
great values aud intricate questions relating to corporate powers of railroad 
companies, issue and pledge of bonds, etc., carried him into a most difficult 
region of jurisprudence, while in Barr vs. Armstrong (56 Mo., 577) the doc- 
trine of the husband's liability for necessaries furnished the wife, is examined 
and illumined by his research and learning. 

In the State Bank case (State of Missouri vs. Bank of State of Missouri, 
45 Mo., 52S) the interesting question of the powers of State officials was 
most ably discussed, and the doctrine of the leading case of the Floyd Ac- 
ceptances (7 Wall, 666) was engrafted upon our law. 

McCune vs. Belt (38 Mo., 281 and 45 Mo., 174) involves questions affect- 
ing Bills and Xotes, State ex rel Watson vs. Farris (45 Mo., IS;;) a quo 
warranto proceeding, deals with the powers of a General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church to appoint trustees of an educational institution, and 
embraced technical questions of ecclesiastical organization; and thus as we 
explore the books we find almost every conceivable topic discussed with the 
same adaptability and force. 

But the greatest of Mr. Glover's professional efforts was undoubtedly 
in the celebrated case of Blair vs. Ridgeley (41 Mo., 63), one of the "test 
oath'' eases, arising under the Constitution of 1865. This case was an 
action for damages by Frances P. Blair, Jr.. against the judges of ••lection 
for their refusal to accept his vote without his previously having taken the 
oath prescribed by the constitution. That oath, as is well known, provided 
that no person should be allowed to vote who did not swear that he had 
never, "directly or indirectly, given aid, comfort, countenance or support to 
persoas engaged in any hostility against the United States, or had ever in 
any manner adhered to its enemies, foreign or domestic, or 

h i I ever disloyally held communication with such enemies, or had ever ad- 
vised or aided any person to enter the service of such enemies, or had ever 
bj act or word, manifested adherence to the cause of such enemies or had 
any desire for their triumph over the arms of the United States. * It 

not oulv disfranchised the citi/.en who could not thus swear, but it also 



— 7— 

prohibited lawyers, preachers, teachers, and many other classes of persons 
from practicing their several callings and professions. The case of the State 
VS. Cummlngs, (36 Mo., 27;!; I. Wallace, 277) had already gone to the Su- 
preme Court of the United States from Pike County, and in that case it had 
been decided by that court that the provision of the ccnstitution which for- 
bade a minister of the Gospel to exercise his calling, was void; but the 
decision still left untouched the right of the citizen to vote, and of the lawyer 
to practice. The case of Blair vs. Kidgeley, was instituted for the purpose 
of testing the constitutional provision with reference to the citizen, and 
about the same time .Mr. Glover procured an indictment of himself for piac- 
ticiug law without taking the oath, for the purpose of making the test in 
reference to lawyers. In Blair vs. Kidgeley, the point was made that those 
port ions of the constitution which imposed these penalties were in the nature 
of a bill of attainder and ex post facto. The plaintiff was represented by Mr. 
Glover, and the defendant by the author of that notable instrument, the con- 
stitution of L865, the late Charles I). Drake. The case was argued at the 
Oct >l>er Term, 1867, before Judge Wagner, Holmes and Fagg; and it was 
deemed of so much importance that the reporter has set forth at leugth the 
argument of couusel upon both sides. 

It will readily be seen that the questions involved in this case were cal- 
culated to call forth the highest powers of the legal mind. Here again the 
crucial point was the conflict between the State and Federal Constitutions, 
and with it Mr. Glover dealt not only as a lawyer but as a statesman and pa- 
triot. For I venture to assert that his definition of the State, and his com- 
ments upon the genius of our institutions as contained in that argument, 
constitute one of the clearest and most patriotic discussions of the social 
ami economic questions involved which can be found in literature. I cannot 
take your time to-night by attempting to discuss this argument in detail, but 
it must be said of it that it is an exhibition of deep and accurate learning, 
of immense historical research, of the closest reasoning and of the broadest 
and most philosophical insight into the questions involved, and more, if ever 
an argument upon a legal proposition amounted to a demonstration, such was 
the fact in this case. A study of it, irresistibly suggests that expression of 
Lord Bacon with reference to Chief Justice Coke ; -'but this I will say of 
him, that never man's person and his place were better met in business than 
my Lord Coke and my Lord Chief Justice in the case of Over berry." The 
issues, the time, the subject all united to form a lit setting for as splendid 
an example of legal ability as was ever shown. His chief opponent in that 
case, himself a lawyer of eminence, said of it : "In that argnmenl all ages, 
all quarters of the globe, and all system of government and laws are laid 
under < tribution." 

A.8 an instance of the power of the man. of his grasp of the subject, of 
his style, in treating the matter under discussion. I can not forbear giving an 
extract from it. He had been likening the Constitution to the ordinance of 
the Commune ,,f Paris inl792: and he recites the various frivolous offenses 
which the revolutionists of that day assigned as evidences of disloyalty ■ and 



punished with imprisonment and death ; and he is answering the contention 
of opposing counsel that the constitutional provisions attacked are not in 
the nature of a bill of pains and penalties but a ••disqualification.'" of cer- 
tain classes to exercise the franchise, a ''regulation." entirely competent for 
the State to make. He says: "The only showing of offense which the 
Girondists appear to have exhibited was their unshaken sense of justice ; 
the only crime they committed, their indomitable courage in resisting and 
defying aggression. On such charges they were condemned, not punished, 
but "disqualified" to live and "regulated" out of existence." It is hard to 
imagine a more effective use of satire, or a more conclusive argument upon 
the facts. Had Mr. Glover never put pen to paper, or raised his voice in 
any other legal effort, the brief and argument in Blair vs. Eidgeley, would 
stamp him as one of the most eminent constitutional lawyers of the land. 
The great powers of his mind seemed at their best in the investigation of the 
vast fields of history, philosophy, literature and law for the acquisition of 
material whereon to construct his argument. And his analytical power, his 
marvelous capacity for condensation enabled him to deal with this mass in so 
effective a way as that each element was made to take its part in the upbuild- 
ing of a symmetrical whole which fulfills the highest possibility of mental 
effort. The feeling which rests upon the mind after the perusal of most aigu- 
ments is that they furnish more or less food for thought, a starting point for in- 
vestigation. The impression left by that of Mr. Glover in this case is that the 
field had been all gone over ; that a master mind had been before and had 
exhausted the possibilities of the subject, and that the debate is closed. 

I might cite many other cases from those volumes where the fame of 
this great lawyer is embalmed to show his power and versatility. And out 
of that massof litigation of which I have spoken I could, if time permitted, 
show you how every branch of the law with which our courts have dealt, has 
from time to time engaged his attention and exhibited his great faculties. 
But of what avail would it be to heap one upon another, illustration alter 
illustration of those great qualities which made this man. as he was. easily 
the first lawyer of our Stite. F. is -mating as it is to the student of our pro- 
fession to follow him along this pathway of labor and learning, and profita- 
ble as it is to study these monuments of his life's work, time does not here 
permit us to do so and we must be content with this brief examination of 
those notable contests in which he particularly shone. They suffice to indi- 
cate that he was distinguished by these qualities; a marvelous, intuitive 
grasp of the strongest, the most salient point in the case, and the faculty for 
asserting and reasserting his point. always in new and varied form until, by 
the persuasiveness of his eloquence, the compelling power of his clear log- 
ical statement, by the insistence and fervor of his presentation, he carried 
with him the most unwilling auditor and seemed to annihilate opposing ar- 
gument. He wasted no time upon matters of small consequence: the gieat 
force of his mind was concentrated and thus its power enhanced. AggieSB- 
ive in manner, confident to a degree which compelled confidence in others, 
surpassingly earnest, zealous almost to the point of intolerance, he was able 



— 9— 

by these accessories so to speak, to pave the way and remove opposition al- 
most before he uttered a word. His quickness of perception and the celer- 
ity of all his mental operations were maivelous. He never waited to be 
attacked; he was invariably the aggressor. Always thoroughly prepared 
he entered upon the trial of his cases so equipped at all points that he was 
often able in the conduct of a jury cause to defeat his antagonist by means 
outside of the merits. It has been well said of him by a fellow practitioner 
that he not infrequently beat the other side with his small arms without even 
uncovering his principal batteries. If I were asked what was his greatest 
mental characteristics, I should say that it was the ability to take broad 
views of all questions, to discern ami emphasize the fundamental principle 
involved, and at the same time to pay the closest attention to the most uri- 
nate details. .Mr. Wirt thus speaks of Chief Justice Marshall : "This ex- 
traordinary man * * * without the advantages of person, voice, attitude 
gesture, or any of the ornaments of an orator deserves to be considered as one 
of the most eloquent men in the world, if eloquence may be said to consist in 
the power of seizingthe attention with irresistible force and never permitting 
it to elude the grasp until the hearer has received the conviction which the 
speaker intends. How then, you will ask, how is it possible that such a man 
can hold the attention of an audience enchained through a subject of even 
ordinary length; 1 will tell you. He possesses one original and almost sup- 
ernatural faculty, thefaculty of developing a subject bya single glance of his 
mind and detecting at once the very point upon which every controversy de- 
pends; no matter what the question, though teu times more knotty than the 
••gnarled oak," the lightning of Heaven is not mote rapid or more resistless 
than his astonishing penetration." All who knew Mr. Glover must feel 
that this language applies to him with wonderful aptness. 

But Mr. Glover had this added advantage, he had the most exuberant 
aud picturesque imagination, which touched with light and painted with the 
most brilliant hues of poetic thought every subject with which he dealt. In 
conjunction with these powers he had that intellectual accuracy, which 
enabled him to properly estimate without self-deception the true value of 
the facts and the legal principles in a case. One of the difficulties of our 
profession is that we often become so possessed of a ease thai the case 
comes to possess us; thus the power of just discrimination is lost, and the 
strength of our adversary's Ca8e undervalued. This Mr. Glover never did. 

On the contrary, it is my belief that, imputing to his adversary, often with- 
out just ground, the possession of some of his own qualities, his tendency 
was to magnify the strength of the case against him. And in consequence 
he was always thoroughly prepared. 

Another source of his power was his sense of humor. Never carried 
beyond the point of illustration it never overshadowed anything else, but 
became in his hands a most effective weapon for the reduction of his adver- 
sary's case to an absurdity. Thus he used it in an open letter to the Bar 

denouncing tin- < General Assembly of the state for t he impeacl -nt of Judge 

Moody, who was. as all will remember, prosecuted because, among other 



— 10— 

things, "'he held a false, erroneous and dangerous opinion, uttered it on the 
bench, and empanelled a jury without requiring them to take an oath which 
he had construed to be unconstitutional." 

The letter abounds in invective of a high order aud contains this irresis- 
tible touch of humorous satire, which well exemplifies his power and style. 
"The redoubtable Jack Cade thus preferred his indictment against the Lord 
Say, "Be it known unto thee (said Jack) by these presents, that I am the 
bea nn that must sweep the court clean of such filth as thou art. Thou hast 
most treacherously corrupted the youth of the realm in erecting a grammar 
school. And, whereas, before, our forefathers had no other books but the 
score and the tally, thou has caused printing to be used. And contrary to the 
King, his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper mill ; and it will be 
proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun 
and a verb and such abominable words as no Christian ever can endure to 
hear." Now, gentlemen, says Mr. Glover, I entreat you which of the two 
charges is most worthy, that of Jack Cade, or that of the honorable mana- 
gers of the General Assembly.' I will give you my opinion: I think, con- 
sidering Jack was a savage, his efforts indicate a nature rather more imbued 
with the principles of justice, and a legal acumen decidedly superior to that 
of the honorable managers. Had Jack Cade beeneducated, he would no doubt 
have made a respectable lawyer. But on these managers I am constrained 
to believe the lights of civilization have shown in vain."' 

As to his dramatic power there can be no doubt. There has been much 
discussion amongst his contemporaries as to whether that quality which was 
exhibited on so many occasions, was the result of careful preparation or a 
spontaneous expression of his feeling. It is the opinion of those best qualified 
to judge that much of it, especially in the trial of a jury case was assumed. 
It was a part Of that legitimate strategy which constitutes the veiy life of 
advocacy, the art which marked with distinction such men as Dunning, 
Plurrket, Scarlett and O'Conuell, Choate and Pinckney, in all contests before 
juries. But on such occasions, as in all other public appearances of Mr. 
Glover, it is certain that the fervor which characterized the man found its 
natural expression in this way. When he believed a thing it was with the 
strength of conviction so great that its assertion was a necessity, and in its 
assertion the characteristics of his mind necessarily tinged his manner. So 
confident was he in the result of his own investigation, so conscientious and 
careful had he been in forming his conclusion, that it seemed intolerable to 
him that others should not share with him in his convictions. And when. 
in his capacity as an advocate, with this there was coupled the duty to his 
client — to convince the court oi jury of the rectitude of his position, his 
eagerness and zeal knew no bounds. And these could find expression most 
fitly in the picturesque, original forms in which the thoughts occurred to 
him. To these attributes is largely due the fact that the great physical 
defect under which he Labored, became, not a hindrance but a source of 
strength. That difficulty of speech which beset lrirrr from his youth, would 
have discouraged most meu from adopting a profession where facility of 



—11— 

expression is a thing of such importance : yel by shed force of will and by 
reason of this earnestness, this defect . which he could not control, was made 
to so enlist the interest and hold the attention of his hearers, that it served 
to emphasize the very thought he wished to express, by t he difficulty which 
seemed to attend its expression. 

ix PUBLIC AFFAIRS. 

Mr. Glover never held public office, and never but once seemed willi"g 
to do so. but he discussed public questions in such a manner as to greatly 
aid in shaping the public opinion of his time. The earliest record we have 
of him in this field is an address delivered at Palmyra, Missouri. July L'Tlh. 
1847, bo the Colonization Society of Marion County. The address is in 
strong advocacy of the plan for the colonization of slaves as against that of 
abolition. It is full of vigorous argument, embellished with historical 
illustration, well ordered, concise, eloquent; it indicates close study of the 
subject, a sentiment of elevated patriotism, ami a depth of sympathy for 
the unfortunate slave, characteristic of the man and far in advance of the pe- 
riod. As one of his earliest productions it is notable in that it shows a fa- 
miliarity with public questions unusual at his age, and an interest in their 
correct solution, creditable alike to his heart and head. The argument is 
well summed ap, and the style illustrated by the concluding sentence of the 
address, in which, by a picturesque metaphor he shows the advantages of the 
plan of colonization over the violent and dangerous project of immediate 
abolition: — " So the waters of some polluted lake within whose depths are 
concealed the noxious (dements of disease and death, may be gently, slowly. 
constantly, peacefully and effectually withdrawn by some well devised and 
prudent outlet, which had otherwise remained to poison the atmosphere 
with their piesence, or to break their barriers, and fall upon the land with 
devastating fury." 

On July 7th. L852, at a ratification meeting of the candidates Scott and 
Graham, he made a speech in St. Louis which is remarkable in many re- 
spectS. He bad been an ardent advocate for the nomination of Fillmore, 
having been identified with the National Whig Party, but he accepted the 
verdict of th«' Baltimore Convention, and this speech is a superb eulogy on 
the life and character of Gen. Scott, and an able review of the political is- 
sues of the time. 

.Inst previous to the breaking out of the war Mr. Glovei took a stand 
conspicuous for its boldness. Whilst some were crying for peace, some for 

neutrality and a • for an] course which would preserve their property, 

Mr. Glovei stood first, last and all the time for unconditional union. Y< ai s 
before he had distinguished himself in the famous trial ol'Wiit and '1 hem- 
son in Mai ion County, when these men wen- indicted for harboring fugitive 
slaves. He ha<i braved the passions ond prejudices which surrounded these 
unfortunate victims ol the political excitement of the time, standing for law 
and humanit] with the same courage and true patriotism which character- 
ized .Vlams in the defease of the British soldiers in Boston and Lord 



— 12— 

Erskine in Hadleigh's case. He never changed his views, or hesitated to 
express them, although in those days anti-slavery views were dangerous to 
entertain and still more to express, until the proclamation had set every 
black man free. In 1860 he delivered in St. Louis a speech upon the slavery 
question which is one of the most striking of all his public utterances. He 
traces the institution of slavery historically with a fidelity lemaikable when 
we consider his uncompromisiug hatred of it. From the standpoint of the 
law. of public policy, of humanity and religion, it is examined v\ it li a mer- 
ciless exactness and condemned by its own record. This gieat ques-tion 
which "touched the tongue of Philips with fire and raised the soul of Sum- 
ner to the stars,"' stirred him to the profoundest depths of his being, and 
this speech and another which he delivered in 1862 with special reference to 
State emancipation, for brilliancy and fertility of illustration, for propriety 
of diction, fairness of statement, invincible logic and forcefulness of expres- 
sion, have never been excelled by any contribution to the literature of that 
subject. Concluding that slavery is "a vast social, moral, political and re- 
ligious evil," he uses this beautiful figure of speech to illustrate his mean- 
ing: "Who has not delighted to contemplate the monarch of the forest. 
See the hale green tree as he lifts his trunk above the earth and casts his 
giant arms abroad and defies the utmost violence of the storm. The birds 
of the air find shelter in his branches and the flocks of the field repose be- 
neath his shade. Go now, and shut out the free dews and rains of Heaven 
from his head ; go limit the boundless gush of air and sunlight in which it 
has been his wont to riot; go circumscribe him round and mark the point 
at which his roots shall no more descend into the earth, go fix by props and 
stays and bars the range in which his lordly boughs may sweep amid the 
rocking of the tempest. Destroy in this way. if you please, the liberty even 
of a tree, violate in this manner the laws of its nature and Ihe king of trees 
will languish — the delicate rose will not more certainly droop and die. 1 say 
the majestic oak will wither and fall to the earth a blasted and lifeless thing. 
Xow do you suppose that men and societies and States are exceptions to 
this universal rule.'" 

The picture he draws of the baleful effects of slavery upon mankind, 
and his fervid appeal to the people of the State fco shake off this monster 
which, as he said, "had sapped the industries of the State, and will exclude 
labor and in excluding labor exclude capital " are very strong; in the course 
uf it he uses this striking language : — " Naturally, geographically, Missouri 
should be the center and heart of the great northwest ; but what is she in 
effect, scarcely any part of it, a foreign body, thrust as it were. In the midst 
of a gigantic empire whose warm and invigorating life currents she repels : 
a shrunken, wilted limb upon a tree flourishing in strength and beauty, is 
the sad similitude of our unfortunate State. This youthful deciepitude, this 
premature decay is all of it, the work of. man. Slavery has done it.'" 

The war issues carried Mr. Glover into the Republican Party, and 
though he advocated the nomination of Bates before the Chicago Convention 
of I860, he became a strong supporter of Mr. Lincoln, all through the war 



—13— 

period, until the adoption of the Drake Constitution in L865. He gave with- 
out stint of his labor and time to the upholding of the Union cause. He was 
a member of the Committee. of Safety in St. Louis, and actively co-operated 
with Blair, Broadhead, Rollins and other patriots who did so much to gave 
the state for the Union. The adoption of the Constitution of 1865 with its 
proscriptive provisions drove him out of the Party. Tyranny in all fomis 
was intolerable to him, and while strongly partisan in his views, his mind 
revolted from the consequences of the measures advocated by the Republi- 
cans of that da\ . He was of those who believed that amnesty meant some- 
thing, and in a speech before the Democratic Convention August 6th, 1868, 
he thus showed his nobility of nature, far removed from the petty vindic- 
tiveness of party : •' Why, then, should not the Unionist and the late Rebel 
befriends.' Their quarrel is ended, their battles all fought out. * * What 
is it but sataoic ambition, or satanic malice that should decree a state of 
hatred between men who are willing to be at peace? * * * Whatever 
devils and fiends may inculcate ou this subject, I tell you 1 believe the 
angels in Heaven rejoice and God is well pleased to behold such noble exhi- 
bitions of humanity wherever they occur." In the same spirit of exalted 
patriotism he denounced military rule in the South by an encomium upon 
the famous order of Gen. Hancock using the phrase: "That liberty and law 
were the inheritance of the people ;" of this Mr. Glover says: "There, my 
friends shone forth the statesman and the soldier; there flashed the pen of 
Madison the sword of Jackson and thus by one honest, fearless, defiant act 
was Congressional tyranny swept away from Louisiana and Texas." 

The speech to which I have just referred is one of a long series of pnblic 
attacks upon the Constitution of 1865. He had thrown himself into this 
contest with all the ardor of his nature, inspired by the noblest sentiments 
of patriotism. His services were freely given, in the case of Blair vs. Ridge- 
Icy and other cases which about that time were instituted to test the validity 
of these constitutional provisions. And it is to his efforts more than to any 
Other one man that the final overthrow of this iniquitious instrument is due. 
Ili> speeches and arguments upon these questions were of inestimable public 
service and mark him as a statesman of no small stature. 

During all these years ol intense professional labor he gave his time, his 
energies and his great abilities to the debate of these great public questions, 
and to his courage, statesmanship and devotion the people of this State are 
largely indebted for the settlement of those issues which threatened the safety 
of the commonwealth in that period ot danger and unn st succeeding the war. 
With tlie exception of his advocacy of greenback theory it is not known that 
Mr. Glover never arrayed himself upon the side of any public question where 
the wisdom of his position was not fully vindicated by subsequent events. 

He was pursuaded to become a candidate for the Senate in L879. 
Wholly unused to the duplicity of politicians, unversed in the arts which 
secure popularity, the brilliant advocate utterly lacked the power to advo- 
cate his own cause, and his candidacy failed. 

With his superb eodownments and exalted patriotism he would have 



—14— 

adorned a station in that body in a manner consonant with the period of its 
greatest splendor, and would have been a worthy successor to Missouri's 
greatest Senator; but it was not to be. The fate which kept him in private 
life decreed a loss to the State, but a distinct gain to his profession. 

HIS LITERARY ATTAINMENTS. 

No account of Mr. Glover would be complete without touching upon his 
literary attainments and style. Few men have been more deeply versed in 
literature, ancient and modern, than he. Almost every speech and argument 
he made is replete with proofs of his immense research and discerning taste. 

The chief characteristic of his diction is his preference for words of 
purely Anglo-Saxon origin, and it is to this that the forceful, virile quality 
of his compositions is due. There is a terseness, a vigor, a directness about 
his language inseparable from the rugged force of the old Anglo-Saxon roots, 
yet, if occasion required he could command the most delicate phrase, the 
choicest imagery. Where can there be found a more powerful appeal at once 
to the intellect and the heart than is contained in this extract from the argu- 
ment in State vs. Glover: "The Missouri Convention have outraged the 
sense of universal humanity. In the insult which they have offeied to the 
dead and the descration of graves and tombs they have stricken a blow at 
every living, human bosom. They have ordered the assessment and sale for 
taxes of the graves of their people. They are the first legislative hyenas on 
record. Hitherto, whoever despoiled a grave or tomb was a public criminal, 
subject to arrest and disgraceful punishment. A Convention legalized this 
odious crime. The new Coustitutiou directs its officers substantially to 
remove the enclosures around these solemn spots, tear down the monuments 
and divert the grounds from a sacred to a common use." In lighter vein he 
seemed equally facile; thus in one of his political speeches in the Pierce cam- 
paign he said: "The Baltimore Convention may make Gen. Pierce our 
President, but Heaven has put it out of their power to make him great." 
Aud upon one occasion wnen a certain Judge, who had at tirst leaned strong- 
ly to the side of Secession, but afterwards became an extreme Unionist, 
injected into his charge to the grand jury a denunciation of the rebels, etc., 
Mr. Glover remarked that the Judge was "trying to commit an oveit act of 
loyalty." 

In contrast to these, in one of his speeches describing the horrors of 
slavery, occurs this passage: "If war conies he shakes as with a giant's 
tread the pillars and foundations of the State. He buffets rudely our social 
and civil relations and rights: he passes by our homes and they are tilled with 
mourning; he passes over our fields and they are blasted and blackened by 
his fiery bolts. At length victory conquers or exhaustion mitigates his 
miseries. Vt length the frightful spectre departs ami beautiful and gentle 
peace resumes her sway. The inaytlower expands her fair coronal above the 
bleak skeleton; and from fields ensanguined with heroic blood the rank har- 
vest springs forth to bless the laud with plenty." 

But style was ever subordinate to matter; the drapery of words never 



—15— 

distorted, it always fitted and adorned t lie body of the thought. The meas- 
ured accuracy of the lawyer was never lost but refined and elevated in 
the graceful word-painting of the poet. 

SUMMARY. 

In attempting to sum up the character of Mr. Glover, I approach the 
subject with a timidity born of a clear conception of the difficulties of the 
case. I have an infinite impatience with the exaggerated eulogy s-o often 
used by the biographers of great men, and I feel that in dealing with a char- 
acter so free from egotism, the language of flattery would be doubly insin- 
oere. Yet when I seek fitting phrase in which to define his qualities, I find 
that words of ordinary use will not serve. He was so great in so many 
ways that if the phrase did not necessarily imply impossibility 1 would say 
that he was a specialist in all specialties of the law ; but the instinctive sense 
of propriety revolts from the application of anything but the exact truth to 
this man who would have resented flattery as he would a blow. Other 
lawyers could be named who possessed some quality in greater degree than 
he ; some have thought that the mind of Mr. Geyer was more calmly analyti- 
cal ; some that Eoswell M. Field excelled him in knowledge of the law of real 
property; some that in equity jurisprudence Spaulding was his superior and 
that as a cross examiner he was not the equal of Gantt. There have been, 
perhaps, many who could be said to have had more cases within their rec- 
ollection at easy call ; some who were more deeply grounded in the civil 
law; some in Spanish titles: but in Mr. Glover's case those who knew him, 
always had the feeling that though in this or that specially he did not, per- 
haps, stand first, he might easily have done so had he chosen ; that it was 
only because he did not puisue the specialty that he was not the most emi- 
nent in it. It is in the feeling that his capacity was almost boundless that I 
base the statement that if he was not the first in all the branches of the law, 
yd if yon were seeking the man who in some great cause of whatever char- 
acter would bring it to the clearest apprehension, who would with certainty 
discern the salient point, would know or quickly find the exact law applica- 
ble to the case and be able to most powerfully present it to the tribunal, Mr. 
Glover was the man for the occasion. You would know that if it were a 
cause involving a question of fact, from any mass, however great and com- 
plicated, his keen intelligence, limitless industry and wise discrimination 
would, with the most telling effect, uneiringly discover it and mould it to 
his purpose. You could not resist the feeling that he could surmount every 
difficulty and that he would give to the cause, however great or obscure, 
the very best qualities of his nature, and that these were the qualities best 
calculated to deal with it. He impressed yon with the feeling that for sheer 
power of intellect he stood among the very first order of men; that his 
powers resulted from a combination of genius with labor : that he was equal 
to an\ emergency, that whatever he did would be adapted best to the hot- 
sities of the time and place. Eon knew that his pointed phrase, his power 

of illustration, his impressive earnestness wen- lust calculated to convey his 
exact thought to the minds of those whom he wished to convince-, whether 



—16— 

Judge or Jury, and you felt that his industry and genius would have col- 
lected and prepared the materia] best adapted for his purpose. He had that 
'• rich economy of expression " that " eloquence of reason," lhat closeness 
of knowledge which enabled him to make what he said sink deep into the 
minds of men. It was this breadth of view, coupled, as I have said, with 
this close attention to the minutest detail which inspired the confidence that 
no means would be neglected in tbe attainment of the desired end. He was 
not like Webster who, as it has been said, seemed to sink the character of the 
advocate of a client in that of advocate for the truth. On the contrary Mr. 
Glover gave the impression of the intense advocate of his cause; not because 
he was in the pay of his client, but because he had thoroughly examined the 
question and bslieved in the absolute righteousness of his cause. His strength 
with both courts and juries was due largely to the fact that he had not fallen 
into the besetting sin of the profession, subtlely of reasoning, hair splitting 
differentiation; there was never wanting that controlling common sense, 
that simplicity of statement, whereby, as has been said, he exhibited "the 
most imposing and intelligible of all forms of manifestations, the moving of 
others' minds by speech." Uniting these qualities "rare in their separate 
excellence, wonderful in their special combination," he wielded an influence 
impossible to measure. His efforts before juries are unrecorded save in the 
memory of his contemporaries ; yet those same qualities which made him 
great in discussion of legal questions, adapted by his instinctive tact, 
enabled him to impress his views upon their minds with rare success. But 
he was greatest in the discussion of the greatest question; the exposition of 
the " spirit of laws;" in this he was philosophical, profound. 

Here his greatness could be felt and admired but cannot be defined. In 
the selection of words, in the marshaling of his arguments, in the intui- 
tive, the unexplainable faculty for omittimg this, stating that, coupling 
these thoughts together, setting those over in antithesis against each other, 
in the whole scope and detail of his presentation of a legal proposition there 
was that evidence of a whole class of qualities whose absence indicates me- 
diocrity and whose union connotes genius. I am often reminded of the 
words of Mr. Justice Buller with reference to Lord Mansfield, not only when 
I contemplate Mr. Glover's performances separately, but his career as a 
whole, where he says "Certain judgments of his are of such transcendent 
power that those who knew them were lost in admiration at the strength and 
stretch of the human understanding." 

Such, then, is a very brief account of this man as we find his life written 
in the records of our profession and the hearts of his associates. Stainless 
in character, genial in his nature : the good citizen, the patriot, the man of 
letters, the able polemic orator; imperial in his intellectual furnishing, the 
undisputed head of his profession. 

As we view him from all these aspects we find no better summary of 
him than these words : 

"Formed for all parts in all alike he shined" 
"Variously great.'" 
(Vigorous and long continued applause.) 






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